Kondoing away the chaos: Kondo thread 7 for yet more life-changing magic

[LinzerTorte]

The Book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, Cathy Hirano

Summary of the process link from mipmop

Article of top tips by Marie Kondo

Thread 6
Thread 5
Thread 4
Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1

Tips and links thread

And BeCool's copy of Coughles list of ORDER from Thread 2 for everyone:

"ORDER TO DECLUTTER/LOCATE THE JOY*

Clothes folding by rummy
Books
Papers
CDs
DVDs
Skincare products
Make-up
Accessories
Valuables (passports, credit cards, etc.)
Electrical equipment and appliances (digital cameras, electric cords, anything that seems vaguely ‘electric’)
Household equipment (stationery and writing materials, sewing kits, etc.)
Household supplies (expendables like medicine, detergents, tissues, etc.)
Kitchen goods/ food supplies
Other (If you have many items related to a particular interest or hobby, such as ski equipment, then treat these as a single subcategory.)

KonMari stresses that sentimental items should be left till the end. So for example, when you are doing papers, don't include photos of your children, love letters, old school reports etc, leave anything with a sentimental connection for later."

*As discussed in previous threads, your order for decluttering and finding the joy/spark/recognizing may be different to recommendations.

Disclaimer - Sentimental items excluded from what I said - I haven't got to those yet. The pile is quite big. Don't know how I will feel about those. That is the kind of thing I can see me keeping. Doesn't take up that much space. Although I am planning to chuck anything on past relationships (if I find anything).

MrNC is up for decluttering as long as he doesn't have to read anything (severely dyslexic), which means I have to get rid of papers as he's too scared to chuck anything that might be important. And everything else is just not getting round to it until I force him to make decisions - I remember packing his flat before we moved in together and saying I refused to move in with a man with over 100 T-shirts. He didn't believe he owned that many. We agreed 50 would be a sensible maximum (12 white, 12 black, 15 with images, few spares for DIY).

Kept 50, over 100 went to charity. And he agreed never to keep clothes from his mum again. Doesn't stop his parents giving us all sorts of stuff, but now we try to process it and get 99% of it out of the house ASAP. Random tins of food that turned up at Christmas need to go on Freecycle... I think we're getting rid of junk faster than it comes into the house, but need to keep on top of it. At least my parents have downsized and there's no more of my childhood/student stuff for them to give to me.

Having children who are growing up and clearly value space to run and play more than their toys has helped us get out of the mindset of saving 'stuff', because while replacing a particular item might be tricky, if the kids had no clothes or toys at all, we could restock both at a car boot for £30 and get some really nice things as well for under £100 online. The whole 'save stuff for a rainy day' mentality we grew up with is defunct. Someone advised me once to think of charging my possessions rent - if I have half a room full of junk, that's say 5% of my mortgage wasted, so about £70 a month. Add the cost of my time looking for things, even at minimum wage, and it becomes clear that less stuff is likely to be the better deal even if you do sometimes have to buy a ball of string/feather boa/certain shape cookie cutter/curtain rings.

Newish jeans that keep sliding down are in the charity bag. Shame because they looked great as long as I didn't move!

NC, I like your reasoning about replacing and cost of time spent looking...

Annoying re jeans, I know the feeling!
If this leads a few more of us to take more care over things before buying, perhaps the UK High Street will stop getting away with selling us so much poor quality clothing!

Tins of food to local foodbank perhaps?

Dd definitely has chicken pox. Sigh. No gym, orchestra for me or swimming for all of us.
Tomorrow was meant to be a day on my own. And Friday I have a governors meeting so DH has to cover her/take her to work.

Exiting today:
Big pile of Swampsterz toys(delightful things) sold on fb. The dc didn't even notice when I hid it away for a few weeks. Spent ages on eBay and ££ acquiring it. Oh well. I must remember not to over invest in one collection in the future.

(Apart from thomas as ds2 is obsessed!)

defk0ndo - the jeans were from a posh charity shop and cost a whole £2 - I tried on 20 while dd was in a good mood. Thing is they look like they fit and are most flattering - until I walk and they slide down... I've been advised on brands that have a high waist, but even on eBay demand means they are £50 a pair! I got a pair of smart trousers too that just needed to be shortened a bit, so it was still a successful trip overall.

Oddly, despite being in an area where lots of people need food banks and ds's school has one, there's no collection points locally any more as they closed the council office. And they won't take cans after the best-before date despite being safe to eat. Whereas Freecyclers will if it's only round the corner - anything that saves money goes. Had 40 people wanting boxes of tampons and nearly as many wanting the last food bag I had.

It's here! My days off are here and neither DD threw up or spiked a fever! I booked up the last of my annual leave a while ago, so I have the next three days off, and both DDs are still in school/childminders. I'm out part of Friday, but I have today and tomorrow at home to kondo and clean in peace, without DD2 "helping". Just having a quick coffee, and a bit of MN while I make a list of what I want to tackle. DH is also working from home today, so we are doing a big charity shop run at lunch time today. Hooray!

NC, high waisted jeans? Which brands? I usually struggle to find jeans too. Luckily found a pair whilst kondoing clothes that I'd completely forgotten about. I'd put them away whilst pregnant. I also bought some recently from Dorothy Perkins that have a truly high waist. None of this pretending to be high waist, but actually only being a bit longer than hipsters, so they still sit below the waist, and fall down when I move (yes, I'm looking at you M&S!)

So I am floundering. It isn't helped by the fact that I'm still not totally well from a sore throat/cough I started 3 1/2 weeks ago! The mum of one of my students noticed that my work room was looking more cluttered on Monday! (she said it in a nice way though)

I did get rid of the large bag of stuff I had for the chazza though as I got a BHF bag through my letter box and they collected last Thursday!

I want to do loads but I'm finding it hard to know what to do next or deal with the build up of everyday clutter and I keep going to bedreally early because of not being so well!

Right I better start work now ( which can include some tidying!)

Re jeans - I wear a belt with almost all of my jeans. I don't expect "ready made clothes" to fit me perfectly. Also my body shapes fluctuates, near my period I am a bit bloated, and obviously after Christmas I am a bit bigger ;)

In fact I seem to be in between sizes in both clothes and shoes! I just got a new pair of shoes for a wedding, and they are a bit big, but the size down would be too small.

I gave up wearing jeans - all trousers, in fact - several years ago as it was such a pain trying to find ones that fit properly. I now live in dresses in the summer and winter and tunic tops with leggings in spring and autumn. It's made life so much easier, especially clothes shopping as I can now ignore about a third of the shop (plus I think it suits me better as well).

I think I've already mentioned that MK says in her second book that she doesn't own a single pair of trousers, so I've been living the Kondo lifestyle for a while now without even realising.

I love jeans, I could never do that! But I must say it's been a few years since I have had a perfect pair of jeans.

I am not keen on leggings, on me they look like track suit pants or pyjamas pants ;) But it does suit some people, and you are obviously one of them - just not for me. I think it's because I rarely wear makeup, don't really style my hair or wear jewellery - leggings would be the straw that brok the camels back, if you see what I mean, leggings are just too much of a relaxed look for my already very relaxed style (or lack of style!).

I like wearing dresses and skirts, but deep down I will always be a T-shirt and jeans person.

Big Swamp collection gone yey.

Have also listed a big pile of Indian & African shawls on fb.

They do have emotional attachment for me but they have been neglected for years at the back of the cupboards top shelf.
I still have kept a few of each - excessive shopping on my travels combined with gifts when I left certain countries I lived in growing up.

Doing odd jobs with being stuck at home with dd. Kind of useful in a way...

I've never really been a jeans/trousers person anyway misscph, which probably helps! But I started wearing them when I was working in Germany as I felt so out of place in a dress or skirt at the company I worked for - and just carried on wearing them without thinking about it even after I'd left. Not many women wear dresses or skirts where I live now (fewer than in the UK, I think) but I don't really care any more.

JKS Hope DD isn't suffering too much and is on the mend soon.

Linzer, sounds like the dress code for work is as relaxed in Germany as it is in Denmark - I mainly wore jeans when I was a teacher.

I generally love jeans, but now have worn through the only pair that fit well, so now it's one pair that are way too baggy now. I can't do up the fastenings on most dresses myself so they're out as daily wear, and hate not having pockets. Next ones tend to be OK so will look for more. Mango -I was recommended "Not Your Daughter's Jeans" or Freddie's of Pinewood or Vivien of Holloway - no idea if they will actually fit but the prices suggest certain people love them!

Time to shift more 'sentimental' category into the loft in boxes of mine and MrNC's, along with 'books of MrNC's that NC thinks can be chucked'...

Started on paperwork but sidetracked due to normal filing which needed to be done so as to get urgent finance tasks sorted... Gee whizz, more than a year of filing had piled up, shame on me.... Now THAT was depressing!! Absolutely need to simplify filing system so that filing becomes easier...

Oh Bertie! I just read your entire post thinking you were talking about your husband. I was still laughing at the tear drops on the too-small t-shirt when I got to the bit about toys... ...and then the penny dropped.

Really must get a better sleep tonight.

NC - wow, I thought my husband Had a thing for t-shirts, but 12 white t-shirts after the clear-out is spectacular

Hi all, I'm new here having read about the konmarie method on MSE, I have read all the threads and today started reading the book.
I have been filing my underwear drawer for several years since someone linked to pinterest which showed socks filed. I share an underwear drawer with DH.
Inspired by reading these threads, I had another clear out of my clothes as I needed to replace some very worn items. I was able to take another 4-5 carrier bags of clothing to the charity shop and came back with 1 top. I then went out and bought another 2 tops the following weekend.
My wardrobe looks so good now, I know where everything is (sadly, as I have just finished 4 nights, it is all in the ironing basket!) and it is easy to keep track of.
I went away for a weekend with DH and found myself packing in the morning before we left. I opened the bathroom cabinet which I had had a go at a few weeks back and was pleased to pull out a ziplock bag which had toothbrushes in it. This pleased me as I now know that what I have been trying to do for several years (ie, putting stuff all in one place) is the best way to store things.
I also samosa my carrier bags and have done for a long time. I am desperately trying to get DH to stop bringing the blimming things into my house but he has an obsession with Asda and with carrier bags. Git!

Tomorrow, I am going to finish off fitting the mats inside the front door. I have asked DH about a thousand times to lift the door bar and he still hasn't so if I wreck the carpet when I do it, tough titty! I just want the job finished.

I aim to get all of my t-shirts and whatnot folded and put into my drawer nicely tomorrow as I put some of DH's clothes in the drawer but they aren't working so need to come out. I want to try folding all of his clothes too but there is only 1 drawer and he has masses of stuff.

I'll update again tomorrow :)

Hermione! Hahaha. In fact DH keeps accusing me of shrinking his jeans so we might have some tears on t-shirts if he acknowledges the fact he might have put a bit of weight on... he loves his t-shirts too and has various many all with some kind of significance. And some awful ones gifted by PIL, usually designer knock offs from car boots. There is a "Diesel" top where the font they have used is comic sans

Gibble, we too are short on drawers. I have a double wardrobe of hanging space (now half empty) and almost 5 very small drawers, 2 of which are broken. I do have some shelving though, so I used some of the plastic storage boxes we used to use for toys (and a couple more I bought ) to turn them into drawers. I started with stuff in cardboard boxes until I had it all sorted through.

A Diesel top wioth Comic Sans font sounds very "hipster-ironic" !

Still not much progress here

misscph Yes, it's very common for teachers, university lecturers, etc. to wear jeans here - the dress code in a lot of professions seems much more casual than in the UK.

Work is still keeping me from doing much kondoing, although I'm trying to do bits and pieces whenever I can. I think I'm almost ready to move on to household supplies, but it's the kitchen that needs kondoing most urgently. Particularly after yesterday morning, when DS shrieked at me: "Mummy, there are beetles in my cereal!" (The All-Bran must have been in the cupboard for months, although I thought it was ok as it was an airtight container.) Must tell DH, who has a huge stockpile of (British) cereals in the cellar...

OMG, Linzer, beetles in the cereal? I lived in a very run down house for a while while finishing my thesis (or is it dissertation?), and I often found mose droppings in the larder, yuk! But beetles in an air tight container - have they developed super powers?

Well, I'm not sure whether they really were beetles but it was certainly infested with something - tiny black creatures and so many of them... it was horrible. Maybe the container wasn't as airtight as I thought. I've just checked the other 15 boxes of cereal in our cupboard and they all looked ok, but most of them get used regularly. Will definitely have to see if we can cut down on the number of cereals we have open, though; do we really need an entire cupboard (it's one of those pull-out ones next to the fridge) full of them? That's not to mention the 28 boxes of cereals in the cellar (I've just counted them).

That is a lot of cereal - you need to get eating, Linzer ;)